M&P22 > P22

[one4freedom]

I hate selling firearms. When I buy one, it becomes like a small part of me. Several years ago I picked up a Walther P22 and absolutely loved it. It felt very nice, albeit a little small in my hands, and I had no complaints with the quality. The problem that I quickly discovered was that it really hated cheap ammo. In fact, I ended up running CCI Mini-mags through it as they were the only things that would cycle without issue. I was told that eventually the springs would lighten and that I should be able to shoot lower power rounds through it, but that never happened. I ended up selling it because I couldn't justify buying the relatively expensive .22 rounds to feed it.

I have felt that piece missing from my life since then. I really like the idea of a .22 pistol for fun and helping new shooters get comfortable before moving to a larger caliber. I haven't really been keeping my eyes on the market as I have been doing a .300 BLK SBR build with a suppressor, so that's pretty much taken all my fun money. A few months ago my buddy at work picked up the SR22, and that got me wanting another .22 pistol. Somehow I missed that there was even such thing as the S&W M&P22 until like 2 weeks ago. I went to Sportsman's Warehouse and they actually had one in stock. It took about 45 seconds for me to decide that I couldn't leave the store without it.

I took her home and cleaned/lubed her and decided that I probably should get rid of the mag disconnect and the manual safety. So, those 2 are gone. I ordered some safety hole plugs for the frame from a gentleman on the smith-wessonforum who prints them on a 3D printer out of ABS.

I love the way this thing feels! With the safety removed, it's nigh unto identical to the full size M&P9. The sights came shooting a little high and left. The elevation is super easy to adjust, but looks like I'll have to drift one of the sights for windage. The best news is this shoots the cheaper .22 with no issues. I ran about 20 Mini-mags first, then about 100 Federal bulk through it with ZERO malfs. Today I was at Gallenson's and they had a bunch of sub-sonic CCIs rated for 1050 fps. I figured I might as well get a box and see how horrible they are, because eventually I want to put a can on her. Took it out today and cycled all 100 SS rounds again with ZERO malfs. I ran another 200ish Federal bulk through it and called it a day. That puts the round count to about 425-450 without cleaning and no failures.

I can't recommend this thing highly enough to someone considering either the SR22 or the P22. I know Gallenson's had one one sale today for $349 if anyone is interested. I paid a little more than that at Sportsman's.

Also, I'm not hating on the P22. I wish mine worked well with the ammo I wanted to shoot. Also, I believe the M&P22 is outsourced and made by Walther anyway...

[Snowman]

Congrats! They are fun. Nice review. 3D printing firearm parts?!? The horror! Blood in the streets!
Haha. Glad someone is putting one of those to good use.

[K18]

I wouldn't mind seeing a picture of the tabs to cover the holes left by the removed safety, were they expensive? The wife believes the gun is hers and doesn't want the safety removed, but maybe she'll like it after trying it.

It is a great shooter, the Ruger mk II didn't get taken out anymore once the M&P 22 came home.

[jfwright1955]

I also own the M&P .22LR and think it's a great addition to the stable along with my M&P .40 full-size and .40 Shields. It probably see's about as much range time (or used to... I'll say why in a minute) if not more than its big brothers as it's just plain fun!

As you eluded to, the M&P .22LRs aren't particularly picky regarding ammo, at least mine isn't. I've probably put well over 5,000 rounds through mine with just about every brand of ammo available and I can count the FTFs on one hand. Of course, because of the generally dirtier .22 rounds it gets a good cleaning after every trip to the range as do all my guns, which I've no doubt helps.

I mentioned it doesn't see as much range time as it used to now. That's because I couldn't resist and bought myself a M&P 15-22 a couple of weeks ago along with adding a few condiments to personalize it. I immediately took it to Doug's to get it sighted in and now I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas; I can't wait for Tuesday evenings to roll around so I can head back to the range to have some more fun with it! I can almost hear the M&P .22 whimpering in its case now it's been bumped out of rotation. But, I digress from the original thread...

Because the M&P .22LR is so easy and comfortable to use, my wife's giving some serious thought to getting into having "fun with a gun" by taking some ladies only lessons, in which case this'll become her range gun... if I can bring myself to giving it up that is.